Omni Ventures closes $33M fund for manufacturing tech
Omni Ventures’ first fund shows investor appetite growing for the software, robotics and automation layers modernising physical production.
Manufacturing is becoming a venture category again, but this time the opportunity is not just in machines. It is in the software and automation layer around how physical goods are designed, built and moved.
What happened
Omni Ventures closed an oversubscribed $33M Fund I focused on pre-seed startups digitising manufacturing through software, AI, robotics, automation and connected industrial systems.
The firm was founded by former Apple engineers Simon Lancaster and Sabrina Paseman and plans to invest roughly $700K to $1M per company. It has already backed startups including Uptool, Cargo Robotics and Dystr.
Why it matters
This is a useful VC signal because manufacturing has historically been harder for early-stage investors to underwrite than pure software. Physical systems involve longer sales cycles, engineering risk and operational complexity.
But AI, robotics and supply-chain pressure are changing the category. Factories increasingly need better software for quoting, planning, inspection, logistics and automation, creating more venture-scale opportunities around industrial workflows.
The bigger picture
Physical AI needs an ecosystem around it. Funding a robot is only one part of the stack; companies also need better systems for engineering, production and movement of goods.
Omni Ventures is betting that the digitisation of manufacturing becomes a broad startup market in its own right, especially as reshoring and supply-chain resilience remain strategic priorities.